Right to Information (RTI) is an Act of the Indian Parliament enforced from the year 2005, to provide for a practical regime for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities. This aims to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority.

Right to Information Act 2005 mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information. It is an initiative taken by Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to provide a– RTI Portal Gateway to the citizens for quick search of information on the details of first Appellate Authorities, PIOs etc. amongst others, besides access to RTI related information / disclosures published on the web by various Public Authorities under the government of India as well as the State Governments.

Objective of the Right to Information Act:

The basic object of the Right to Information Act is to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government, contain corruption, and make our democracy work for the people in real sense. It goes without saying that an informed citizen is better equipped to keep necessary vigil on the instruments of governance and make the government more accountable to the governed. The Act is a big step towards making the citizens informed about the activities of the Government.

In the early nineteen thirties, the emergence of theoretical and applied statistics as a new discipline in the international scenario, prompted Professor P. C. Mahalanobis to set up in India, an Institute of higher learning dedicated for the exploration of this new field, called "Statistics". Subsequently, as a result of his sustained and untiring efforts, the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was established on December 17, 1931 with its headquarters in Kolkata, and was later registered on April 28, 1932 as a non-profit learned Society under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860). By the enactment of the West Bengal Societies Registration Act XXVI of 1961, amended in 1964, the Institute came under the purview of the latter Act. The new discipline of "Statistics" brought fresh air in all branches of scientific research throughout the world, and proved itself as a "Key Technology" in view of its intimate relevance to interdisciplinary research, experimentation, measurement, and inference from samples to aggregate. In recognition of the outstanding contributions made by the Institute in theoretical and applied statistics, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, steered a bill in the Parliament and ISI was recognized as an "Institute of National Importance" by the "Indian Statistical Institute Act 1959". The Act also empowered the Institute to confer degrees and diplomas in statistics and subsequently, after amendment of the Act in 1995, in mathematics, quantitative economics, and in computer science. For further details, click here.

The Institute has always remained in the forefront of research, teaching, and training in Statistical Science and has a unique place in the world. Several path-breaking and sustained contributions in the field of statistics, both theoretical and applied, mathematics, and natural sciences made by the ISI scientists including Professors C. R. Rao, R. C. Bose, and J. B. S. Haldane, had pushed the Institute to great heights. Since 1933, the Institute has been publishing Sankhya, the Indian Journal of Statistics, which is highly regarded by the peers. From January 2007, Sankhya A (Theoretical Statistics and Probability), and Sankhya B (Applied Statistics) are being published. In 1950, the International Statistical Institute had established, jointly with ISI, the International Statistical Education Centre (ISEC) at Kolkata in order to impart training in theoretical and applied statistics to participants from the developing countries of Asia and Africa. The ISEC is run by the Institute jointly under the auspices of UNESCO, the International Statistical Institute and the Government of India.

Recognition of the Institute by the Act of the Parliament provided impetus to the study of various other branches of higher learning. To promote inter-disciplinary research, major strides were made in the areas of computer science, statistical quality control, economics, biological and social sciences, physical and earth sciences. In computer science, emerging and frontier research areas, including soft computing, machine intelligence, VLSI design, nanotechnology, computer vision and pattern recognition, bioinformatics, image processing, document analysis, mobile computing, algorithms, and cryptology, are currently being investigated in keeping with the global developments. Several areas in natural and social sciences have seen spectacular achievements like the excavation of dinosaur fossils from the Godavari Valley, developments in statistical genetics, nanobioscience, fluid dynamics, social network analysis, demography and psychometry. This also justifies the adoption of “Unity in Diversity” as the motto of the Institute. For details of current research activities, please click here.

The structure of the Institute consists of several scientific and administrative divisions, the details of which can be found here. All scientific workers belonging to a Division constitute the Divisional Committee of Scientific Workers (DCSW) of the Division.

The major objectives of the Institute have been stipulated in the Memorandum of Association (MOA) of ISI as:

to promote the study and dissemination of knowledge of statistics, to develop statistical theory and methods, and their use in research and practical applications generally, with special reference to problems of planning for national development and social welfare;

to undertake research in various fields of natural and social sciences with a view to the mutual development of statistics and these sciences;

to provide for, and undertake, the collection of information, investigations, projects, and operational research for purposes of planning and the improvement of efficiency of management and production, and

to undertake any other ancillary activities in fulfillment of the objectives (i), (ii) and (iii) above.

The above-mentioned objectives were endorsed by the three ISI Review Committees formed by the Government of India in terms of the ISI Act (1959) in 1966, 1982 and 2001.

The functions and duties of the Institute have been formulated in tune with the MOA of the Institute. The headquarters of the Institute is located at 203, B.T. Road, Kolkata – 700 108. It has two Centres – one in Delhi and another in Bangalore. The Institute also has a Branch at Giridih and a station at Takdah, Darjeeling. In addition, it has a network of Statistical Quality Control and Operations Research (SQC & OR) Units at Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Baroda, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Hyderabad.

ii) The powers and duties of its officers and employees

Powers and duties of the officers and employees of the Institute are governed by the Standing Service Orders (SSO) and Category Manual (CM) of the Institute.

iii) The procedure followed in the decision making process, including channels ofsupervision and accountability

The Council of the Institute is constituted following the guidelines of MOA, and is the highest governing body of the Institute. The Chairman of the Council is elected by the Council at its first meeting, which is presided over by the President of the Institute, or his/her nominee. The Director of the Institute being the Principal Executive Officer, is responsible for implementation of the decisions of the Council, subject to financial approvals from the Govt. The Director is assisted by the Chief Executive (Administration & Finance) [CE(A & F)], who runs the administrative and financial functions with a team of Senior Officers in various capacities. In all academic affairs, the Director is assisted by the Dean of Studies and the Academic Council. For managing research activities and budgetary planning, the Director is assisted by the Professors-in-Charge/Heads of various Divisions/Units in their respective spheres. Further, the statutory committees formed by the Council, and other committees formed by the Director and/or as advised by the Council, supervise and implement various administrative, financial, and scientific tasks.

iv) The norms set by it for discharge of its functions

As per the procedure prescribed by the MOA and SSO.

v)The rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions

Apart from various Govt. of India rules, Memorandum of Association (MOA), Standing Service Order (SSO) and Category Manual (CM) are being used by the employees for discharging the functions of the Institute.

vi) A statement of the categories of documents that are held by it or under its control

vii)The particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or representation by; the members of the public in relation to the formulation of its policy or implementation thereof

General Body (GB) members, also known as members of the Institute, are elected by the Council in accordance with MOA regulations, who are reputed individuals of the society and are mostly from outside the Institute from a wide spectrum of interests. They are consulted in relation to the formulation of its policy or implementation thereof, during deliberations of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Institute. The membership of GB is governed by the bye-laws of the MOA. The President of the Institute is elected by the members of the GB. The Annual Report with Audited Statement of Accounts of the Institute is considered and needs approval of the GB before presenting it in the Parliament, every year. Any proposed change in the MOA requires approval of the GB (by at least three-fourths of its voting members) for implementation, as per by the guidelines stated in the MOA.

viii) A statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted as its part or for the purpose of its advice, and as to whether meetings of those boards, councils, committees and other bodies are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are accessible for public

For information regarding the structure of the Council, the President of the Institute, the Chairman, and other members of the Council please click here. Minutes of the Council Meetings and Proceedings of the AGM are available at the Council Section of the Administrative Division. The Academic Council, Joint Consultative Committees (JCC), and the following statutory committees formed as per the guidelines of MOA, namely, Policy Planning and Evaluation Committee (PPEC), Finance Committee (FC), Works Advisory Committees (WAC), Technical Advisory Committees (TAC), PhD-DSc Committees manage various planning, administrative, research and academic activities, and employees’ welfare. The Proceedings of the Academic Council, and records concerning admissions, examinations, and results are available at the Dean’s Office. The Joint Consultative Committees review the service conditions, work, and welfare of all categories of workers through deliberations between the ISI administration and ISI Workers’ Organization.

ix) A directory of its officers and employees

A directory of Officers and Faculty Members of the Institute is available at the corresponding link.

A complete list of all workers, both scientific and non-scientific, is available at the Personnel Unit of the Institute.

x) The monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations

Monthly salary and allowance paid to each of its officers and employees including compensation, are as per Govt. of India Rules, details of which are indicated in the Salary Table.

xi) The budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made

The grant received by the Institute from the Government for the financial year 2018-19 are available in the Annual Accounts Report of the Institute.

xii) The manner of execution of subsidy programs, including the amounts allocated and the details of beneficiaries of such programs

As per Govt. of India rules with the approval of the Council.

xiii) Particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorizations granted by it

As per Govt. of India rules with the approval of the Council.

xiv) Details in respect of the information, available to or held by it, reduced in an electronic form

xv) The particulars of facilities available to citizens for obtaining information, including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use

Normal working hours of the Institute spread from 10:00 am to 6:30 pm over a five-day week (Monday to Friday) except national holidays. The Library including the reading room is kept open for public use from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm in the working days and from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in holidays.

A request for obtaining the information as per Section 6(1) shall be accompanied by an application fee of Rs.10/- and information copy @Rs.2/- per page, by way of cash against proper receipt or demand draft / banker’s cheque or Indian Postal Order payable to the Accounts Officer, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata or Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.